The Journey Home
by Tahra
Summary: A collection of stories based after Graduation... The gang are finally coming home, but where have they been and will things be the same? JA MM ML IK
1. His Gift: Candy

Title: His Gift, Her Love

Author: Tara

Rating: G

Category: Candy

Summary: Michael turns back to Roswell, and gets Maria guitar

Disclaimer: Not mine. SO not mine.

Spoilers: S1, S2, S3. Post-Graduation

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Michael turned back.

He'd seen the black, unmarked cars heading into Roswell, and instinctively knew what they wanted.

So he turned back, and grabbed Max.

Before heading out of town however, he made on detour.

"Where are you going?" Max asked.

Michael ignored him, and pulled up outside the DeLuca house.

He knew that Maria would be coming with them now, whether he liked it or not. And he knew there was one thing she wouldn't be able to survive without.

He jumped off his bike, and ran across the yard.

The window was always kept unlocked, specially for him, and now was no different.

Michael slid it up, and then hoisted himself in. He took a quick look around her messy room, and spotted it.

Maria's guitar. The one she'd been given after Alex's death.

He grabbed it, and then slid out the window, holding it carefully in it's case.

He pulled the window closed, and then jogged back across the lawn.

"Hold this," he muttered, thrusting the guitar case at Max.

Max looked at him with a look of surprise, but did as he was told.

Michael jumped back on, and within moments they were racing off again, heading towards their meeting spot.

As soon as they got there, Michael looked around for Maria.

Finally spying her, he grabbed the guitar, and jogged over to Maria with it.

He held it out to her, a little breathless, and watched the stunned, surprised, look appear on her face.

"I picked it up on my way over here," he said, suddenly feeling shy.

"Thank you, Michael," Maria breathed, holding it lovingly in her arms.

She reached up to kiss him.

He let his lips be captured by hers, knowing that he could never leave her now.

"Thank you," she whispered again.

Aat that moment, Jesse showed up with the van, and they left.

Michael watched Maria holding the guitar. The sparkle in her eyes, the soft look on her face, was enough to tell him that for once, he hadn't screwed something up.

Maria glanced up at him, and smirked.

He grinned, and she blushed slightly.

It was the nicest thing he'd ever done for her, and he felt sort of proud to know that he could make her look that way, that soft.

It was his gift to her, the only way he knew how to express his love.

In return, he knew she loved him.

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	2. Speechless: Untuckables

Category: Untuckables

Summary: Amy finds out the secret, and that she loves Jim

Disclaimer: Not mine. SO not mine.

Spoilers: S1, S2, S3. Post-Graduation.

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Amy stared blankly at Jim.

She knew she looked horrible, but she just didn't care anymore.

Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair matted and in need of a desperate brush. She reeked of alcohol.

"What's this?" she asked, her voice dull and deadened.

Jim looked at her gently. "It's Liz's diary. It might help to understand."

"Understand what!" Amy yelled suddenly. "Understand that my daughter ran off, in the middle of her graduation, with her best friend, and some misfit guy! Oh yea, that's really hard to understand Jim!"

"I know this must be hard for Amy," he started.

She snorted. "Oh yea, real hard!"

Suddenly anger overtook him. "Stop being so selfish! You're not the only one who lost a child! The Parkers are going crazy, wanting to know where Liz is. The Evans have lost both of their children. And I've lost Kyle."

And Tess, a voice said at the back of his mind.

He shook the thought away.

Tears welled up in Amy's eyes.

"I'm sorry," Jim sighed. "I shouldn't have yelled."

Amy shook her head. "No, you're right. I am being so selfish. I just want to know why!"

He placed the diary in her hands. "This will help you understand. It may not take the pain away... Ok, it won't take the pain away... But at least you'll understand."

Amy nodded. It was worth a shot.

"Ok."

She took the book off him, and sat down to read it.

After the first few pages, after reading about the shooting, she looked up in shock.

"He's a what?"

Jim smiled ruefully. "An Alien," he answered.

"I let my daughter date an alien. Am I crazy?"

"You couldn't have known."

"Oh no? That hair was a dead give away!"

Jim stiffled a laugh. It was true that Michael's hair had been a little... outrageous... But he was really a good guy deep down.

"Keep reading. It gets way better."

Amy nodded, and picked the journal up.

_So that's more people who know now._

_Myself, Maria, Alex, Sheriff Valenti._

_And now Kyle._

Amy looked up at Jim.

"You knew?"

He nodded, tensing.

"I not only knew, I helped them escape."

She stared at him in shock.

The only person she truly trusted after her daughter, had help her daughter leave town, and not told her.

Tears began to stream down her cheeks.

"Amy, I'm sorry. Their lives were in danger. If I'd told, they could have been killed."

She nodded slowly, the realization of what her daughter had actually been through hitting her.

"It's ok. I don't hate you."

She went back to reading. This time only putting it down when she had finished.

Jim watched her carefully.

"Well?"

She just stared at him in shock.

"I... I can't believe it. I'm speechless."

Jim had to laugh. In all the years that he had known Amy DeLuca, he had never known her to be speechless.

"It is pretty hard to believe, isn't it."

"So my daughter is out there somewhere, at the age of eighteen, running for her life with five aliens. Two of those aliens I've known since they were born, the other three, people I trusted. One of those aliens being the very same boy I caught in my daughters bed. I really can't believe it!"

Jim couldn't do anything but laugh as Amy rambled on, trying to piece everything together.

Finally he couldn't take it any longer.

He leaned over and kissed her, making her mouth stop moving.

Grinning slyly, he pulled away. Amy stared at him, for the second time that day, in shock.

"Just to calm you down," he whispered, still grinning.

Amy grinned, and lightly whacked him around the head.

Her daughter may have been running off having sex for all she cared, because at that moment, she realized that she, Amy DeLuca, loved one Jim Valenti.

Fin

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	3. Burning: Group

Summary: The Parkers, Evans, Amy and Jim burn Liz's journal, after reading their kids messages one last time. Sequel to Speechless.

Disclaimer: Not mine. SO not mine.

Spoilers: S1, S2, S3. Post-Graduation

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The small group of adults stood in a small circle, unknowingly imitating the circle their children had so often created.

A small fire burned in an old oil drum.

Diane held the small leather bound book in her hands. Carefully she opened it, and reread the last message her son had sent her.

_Mom, Dad, I'm happy._

_Liz and I are married, and my only regret is that I didn't get to tell you how much I love you._

_Thank you for looking after me for all these years, for caring for me, even though I wasn't your birth son._

_Don't worry about me. I know you both will anyway, but try not to. It'll make the grey hair and wrinkles arrive sooner._

_I love you both, and hope to see you again, soon. But if I don't, know this. I always loved you._

_Love Max._

Her husband read the message over her shoulder, and then leant around her to flick the pages. Their daughter's last message.

_Mom, Dad._

_Thank you. For everything. For my life._

_Thank you for adopting me, and giving me a good home for all these years. And most of all, thank you for accepting me when you found out._

_Thank you for accepting Max, and letting me marry Jesse._

_I love you both very much._

_Isabel_

Tears ran down Diane's face as she closed the book, and passed it round the circle, to Nancy and Geoff Parker.

She leant against her husband. He was the only thing she had to live for now. Him, and the slight chance that their children would return one day.

Nancy opened the book, skimming through the familiar pages of her daughter's diary. Everything that had opened over the past three and a half years.

She finally came to her daughter's last message.

_So now you know the truth._

_Mom, Dad, look after each other. Know that I love you both very much._

_Take care._

_Liz Evans_

Her daughter was gone. Married, and out of Roswell. On the run from the FBI. And there was nothing she could do to help her.

Geoff had also been shocked by everything. His daughter had just been accepted to an Ivy League College. And was graduating high school.

And now, she had no high school diploma, she was eighteen, married, half alien, and on the run.

And he was scared for her.

Sighing, he passed the book on to Amy.

_Mom,_

_I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave you, but I love Michael so much._

_I couldn't let him go, you understand. I hope you do. Please mom, don't hate me. I love you so much, and I will come back one day._

_Please forgive me for leaving mom._

_I love you._

_Ria_

Amy closed her eyes against the familiar tears.

Her daughter had picked up, and left. Just like her husband had done.

But Maria was nothing like her father. Maria ran because she loved the guy she was running with.

Peter had run because he was scared to make a commitment.

She handed the book to Jim, who stood near her, ready to hold her if she broke down crying.

Jim gratefully accepted the book.

He reread the message that his son had left, the message that he was sure was burned into his memory already.

_Dad._

_Sorry to leave, but as you know, it was no longer safe._

_Good luck with the job._

_I love you dad._

_Kyle._

Jim knew his son didn't need to say much. They'd already said it as they'd been leaving Roswell.

He closed the book, Liz's journal, and looked around the small group gathered.

He received nods from each person, and carefully, he chucked the journal into the flaming oil drum.

Each watched the journal burn, a part of their souls burning with it, burning with the pain of their children leaving.

Fin

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	4. Her Final Goodbye: JI

Summary: Isabel says her final goodbye to Jesse. Prequel to Returning Home, Last Connections, Five Years. Can stand alone.

Disclaimer: Not mine. SO not mine

Spoilers: S1, S2, S3. Post-Graduation

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Isabel couldn't believe what she had just done. After almost four years of marriage, she had taken off her ring. Her finger felt bare without it. But this was a part of the new Isabel.

The new Isabel couldn't have any ties to Roswell. Not after everything they'd been through.

Only three years ago, to the day, she'd been sitting in the hall at school watching her brother and friends about to graduate.

Then it happened.

The lights went out.

Max went to the podium and started to talk.

That was their que that it was time. Time to leave Roswell for good.

She turned to her parents, and said her last goodbye.

Goodbye, I love you.

Then she rushed off to join the others.

Kyle, Liz, Maria.

They raced out to the car to run. Leaving Max behind. But Michael came roaring in on his bike.

"Run!" he yelled to them.

The four had stood stricken as he rode into the school building. Then jumped in the car to go to their meeting place.

Moments after they got there, Michael and Max joined them, safe. And then Jesse had shown up. With a van.

He insisted on going with them, but Isabel had turned him down. He had placed her wedding ring back on her finger.

And then kissed her.

But then it had been time to go. Time to run for their lives. And now, she had taken the ring off.

She looked at the papers before her, and went through, signing each part that needed her signature.

When she was done, she placed them into the package, that she was going to send.

Isabel knew it was foolish to be sending anything back to Roswell, anything that could be traced back to them. But she had chosen to send it the last night that they were in this town.

She took the pen in her hand, and began to write the hardest letter she'd ever written.

_Jesse._

_I love you, but this isn't going to work out._

_I'm running, for my life. And the sooner I cut off all ties, the better._

_This includes to you._

_Me being who I am could put you in danger, and I don't want that. I don't want you to be hurt because of who I am._

_So I'm setting you free._

_Maybe one day, when I can stop running, when the world is safe again, when I can feel safe again, we can try again. We could make it work. But for now it's better this way._

_I love you._

_Isabel_

It was most definitely the hardest thing, besides actually leaving him, that she'd ever had to do. And for a moment, she regretted it.

But she also knew that it was the right thing to do. And that she should have done it before. She folded the letter, and placed it inside the envelope with the papers.

Then she took one last look at her wedding ring. She raised it to her lips, closing her eyes. Then lightly kissed it.

A single tear slid down her cheek.

She was cutting off all ties to Roswell now. She dropped the ring in the envelope, and then sealed it. Then she stood, holding the envelope, and walked out of the small motel room.

Isabel entered the small shop that said "Post Shop/ Dairy/ Petrol Station", brought a stamp, and then put it in the box.

As she slid it into the box, a deep sense of loss, and relief, hit her. She knew now that Jesse was gone forever, yet at the same time it was a relief.

She could now move on. Jesse could now move. Neither would be stuck in limbo any longer.

And Jesse would be safe.

Isabel smiled sadly, then, with her long blonde hair swinging, set off to join the other five to their next destination.

Fin

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Thanks to ParkerEvanss for all the reviews! (((hug)))


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